Daily limit on tickets for high-speed rail link connecting Hong Kong and mainland China to be removed from Monday: transport chief

A daily limit on the number of tickets for the high-speed rail link connecting Hong Kong and mainland China will be removed from Monday, but authorities are undecided on when to resume long-haul cross-border train services, the city’s transport chief has revealed.

Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung on Saturday said the decision was made as a result of mutual agreement between the government, the railway operator and its mainland counterpart, a day after the city announced it would drop all Covid-19 curbs for cross-border travellers.

“With the full opening of borders [with the mainland] on February 6, [we] have unanimously agreed to lift the limit on the number of high-speed rail tickets available for sale per day starting from the same day,” Lam said on his official blog.

“I know that everyone is concerned about when the long-haul service will resume. My colleagues and relevant units are actively coordinating and consulting each other, hoping to gradually and orderly restart the long-distance service as soon as possible.”

The Hong Kong-mainland high-speed railway resumed services last month after it was suspended for three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Tickets were limited to 10,000 per day, while only short-haul services connecting with Shenzhen and Guangzhou returned.

A check by the Post on the centralised mainland ticket-selling website 12306 showed tickets were available for all short-haul destinations in the coming two weeks, except three direct services to Guangzhou South from February 16 to 18.

After the full border reopening, Hong Kong students living on the mainland will begin returning to classrooms in the city from next Wednesday, starting with secondary schools, while all cross-border checkpoints, including Lo Wu, Heung Yuen Wai and Lok Ma Chau, will resume services.